EDUCATION FOUNDATION $74,812 to provide gender equity training to pre-service teachers through theUTeach Dallas program. UTeach recruits students from UTD’s pool of undergraduate STEM majors to consider a career teaching in middle and high school math and science classrooms. Read full story here

Universities are responding to President Obama’s State of the Union call to better educate the future workforce. Five more universities will start UTeach programs in the fall of 2014 to simultaneously award undergraduates STEM degrees and teaching credentials. Read full story here

In 2007, Amiee Himler enrolled in UT Dallas’ School of Natural Sciences and Mathematics to pursue a bachelor’s degree in a field she loves—mathematics. The Terry Scholar was given an opportunity to try out a new initiative at the University called UTeach Dallas, and she fell in love again—with teaching. ….. Read full story here

National Math + Science Initiative Blog

A special event was held today at the Perot Museum of Science and Nature celebrating the impact of the UTeach program on education in the DFW area. The three UTeach programs in the North Texas region have experienced rapid growth in recent years:

UTeach Dallas at UTD has grown from 24 students the first semester to its current 350 students, a 1350 percent increase. Recent graduates are all employed in school systems or science learning centers or have gone on the graduate school. The 100-plus graduates since the program’s inception could potentially impact about 79,000 middle and high school students by 2019. Read full story

Grants Will Further Advance Math and Science Teacher Training in Growing Program. Dallas-area foundations and industry partners in science and technology have provided $2 million to support an innovative program at The University of Texas at Dallas aimed at training the teachers who will inspire the next generation of scientists, engineers, doctors and entrepreneurs. read full story

“The Communities Foundation of Texas has announced eight grants totaling more than $2 million to seven nonprofits working to improve middle school education in the Dallas area. Awarded through the foundation’s community impact funds, the grants will support efforts to recruit and train high-quality teachers and administrators to serve in at-risk middle schools across North Texas. Grant recipients include the University of Texas at Dallas (UTeach Dallas), which was awarded $500,000 over three years to actively recruit, through its UTeach Dallas program, STEM majors to teach in high-need urban middle school math and science classrooms;”…..read full press release

“As a planetary scientist, I am very excited about this. An astronomical phenomenon like this is a very rare event, and it will also coincide with the research found with NASA’s Kepler [telescope].” — Dr. Mary Urquhart, head of the Department of Science and Mathematics Education read more

Eighteen educators from area school districts spent part of their summer at UT Dallas in a program sponsored by Texas Instruments to improve the teaching of science, technology, engineering and mathematics. Read the full story

During his State of the Union address in January 2011, President Obama “announced an initiative to train 100,000 new teachers in mathematics, science, technology, and engineering, or STEM subjects. He plans to expand ‘promising and effective teacher preparation models’ for STEM teachers.” Read the full story.

“And we also need to reward states that are placing outstanding teachers in schools and subjects — like math and science — where they’re needed most. That’s one way to foster the next generation of math and science teachers. And by the way, everyone has a role to play in training these teachers. So universities and nonprofit organizations can launch programs like UTeach at UT Austin that allows aspiring teachers to get a math or science degree and teaching certificate at the same time. And businesses can follow the examples of Intel and Microsoft by developing the software tools and cutting-edge technologies that prepare today’s students to be tomorrow’s teachers…”

A $500,000 gift from the O’Donnell Foundation will support the UTeach Dallas endowment and provide flexibility to support scholarships, internships, and other aspects of the program. Read the full story.

Tech Titan Award Recognizes Program to Interest Students in Math and Sciences The Metroplex Technology Business Council (MTBC), the largest technology trade organization in Texas, has awarded UTeach Dallas the 2009 Tech Titan of the Future award in the university category at a ceremony. Read the full story.

DALLAS – Gov. Perry today participated in the presentation of a $2.4 million grant over a five year period from the National Math and Science Initiative (NMSI) to the University of Texas (UT) at Dallas to replicate the UTeach program, which will certify UT Dallas undergraduates to become high school math and science teachers. UT Dallas is one of 12 sites nationally to be awarded a replication grant.

“Texas is once again leading the nation with winning ideas, such as the UTeach program, which will help us close the math and science gap in today’s schools, before it becomes a salary gap in tomorrow’s workplace and an opportunity gap for Texas families.” Read the full story.